Cloth-winding machine.



E. A. MQMILLIN;

CLOTH WINDING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 15,1909.

1,055,409. Patented Mar. 11, 1913.

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WITNEQE EY zyw Envy-A .21. M ILLIN.

"H I BY IN YEN'TUR UNI TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

in EDVTARD MCMILLIN. OF NORTH ADAMS. MASSACHUSETTS. ASSIGNOR TO THE E. A.

-MQMILLINCOMPANY, OF PHILMONT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEWYORK.

CLOTH-WINDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11, 1913.

Application filed July 15, 1909. Serial No. 507,813.

prepared for market by winding it uponboardsto-avoid folding or creasing the goods and to facilitate handling, packing and shipment Hitherto wood boards of proper dimensions as to length, breadth and thickness have been .very generally used. and as long asgood lumber was plentiful and cheap, no substitute for wood was sought. At first pine of good quality was used which could be dressed smoothly, but

1 as its cost advanced, poorer and more knotty shaky stuff was used, until the price of such inferior stuff rose to where it barred its use for such purposes. Then spruce and other inferiorlumber-was resorted to for the purpose, but the available supply of that has so deteriorated as to compel manufacturers to seek cheaper substitutes, as boards which are shaky are liable to split afterv the cloth has been wound on them, or they may have pitchy or gummy knots or seams in them, which facts unfit the wound bolt of cloth for the market or later causes its return to the manufacturer which involves re-winding. As it is necessary that a wood board shall be reasonably smooth so that the fibers .of the cloth shall not be caught by knots,

slivers or shives of the wood. if such-boards are used they must be papered or otherwise protected to prevent injury to the fabric wound upon them. The strength, stiffness and rigidity of wood boards are ordinarily gt'neanscapable of use in connection with cloth-winding machines now in use which will facilitate the introduction and use of cheaper, more flexible and lighter boards than can now be handled by the ordinary apparatus for winding cloths. Boards which would be too weak, flexible and slender to keep their shape between the jaws of the ordinary winding machine and resist the strain of the fabric in winding without doubling up. by'reason of the support afforded by this invention may be successfully used in the winding machine and afterward meet all the requirements in maintaining the shape of the bolt of cloth wound thereon that were afforded by the old wooden boards.

\Yith the aid of this invention it has been made feasible to wind cloth on boards made from strawboard or wood pulp with a facility which was impossible with the old machines.

The invention is fully disclosed in the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 shows a plan view of the top of a winding machine witn my improvements. embodied therein. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same machine showing the clothboard-support detached from the tail-stock of the winding apparatus and swung to one side with the bolt of cloth partially removed from the board support. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my invention showing the headstock withdrawn and the bolt of cloth as having dropped onto and resting upon the carrying roll. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the reducingplate. Fig. 5 is an end view of the machine. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the carrying roller and stand. Fig. 7 is an end view of the tail stock showing one of the boards in section and in position as when the winding apparatus is in service. Fig. 8 an edge view of the tail stock showing a section of a board slightly withdrawn from its clamped position. Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of the means employed for counteracting the effect on the wound bolt of the contraction of the cloth about the winding board as developed in the winding process.

This apparatus is adapted to carry any kind of a winding board but especially thin flexible boards, such for instance, as may be made from pasteboard, straw, wood pulp or any other cheap material which may be wrought into the desired shape and thickn ess, or light wooden frames. The main deslderatum in the board is that it shall possess sufiicient rigidity to keep its shape in the.

center of the bolt after the winding. If it will -do this it will be strong enough to withstand the vicissitudes of the operation of winding the'cloth thereon The frame on which this apparatus is mounted consists-of suitable 'uprights 1, 1, connected by tie rods in the top of each of .which upright-s is a'journal bearing-3,3,

for the receptionof the two shafts 4 and 18 Shaft 41 carries a gear 5by which it is rovtated and its inner end carries the hub 9 of the tail-stock of the boardsupporting devices. This .tail stock'c'onsists of acrosshead 11, grooved as seen atle, 3, tomceive the end of the supporting plate P,

and is provided with the ledges 12, 12, whic h support the under side of that plate. -Upon the opposite side of this cross-head are two' spur-clips 13,-13,"the outer ends of which overhang the ledges 12, ,12', each of them 'being. provided with a knife-edged spuruon its underside which spur-edges are plainly seen in end and side views at 15 in Figs. 7 and 8. In practice the end of the'plate P is forced into the groove-14c; and the board B-is forced between the upper side of the 'plateand the spurs on theund er side of the clips, 13, 13, the spurs 15-, 15, entering the,

upper surface of the end of the board. These spurs prevent edge-wise shifting of the board'in operation of winding.

The head stock consists of the head proper 36, having the, pivot ears 34, 34:, in which the ring 33is hung. Vithin the ring 33 on transverse pivots '31, 31, is hung the ball 32 which is bored to receive the end of shaft 18 which can be held therein by one of the pivot screws31. Shaft 18 is carried in a pipe bearing 17 which is fitted to rotate in a bearing 3 of. the frame of the machine.

The shaft and pipe bearing are fitted with a spline "20 in one anda'groovelt) in the other'so that they will be geared -to revolve together but' the shaft can slide within the pipe bearing. The outer end of the shaft 18 isscrew-threaded and takes on a nut 25.

which has a hub of sufficient propbrtion's to cap over the end of the pipe bearing as seen in Fig. 2. A screw or pin 24 passes through the hub -of this nut and its end enters and turns in the groove or, necking 23 of the pipe bearing 17. Thus the pipe bearing 17' is prevented from endwisemovement in its seat by the fiange2lat one .end and at the other end by the screw connection between the pipe bearing and the nut-hub at '24.

The gear 8 is rigidly attached to the pipe hearing by a key 22 or by other suitable means between the machine frameand the nut. through it: rigid attachment to the pipe bearing 1? by means of key 22 rotate bear- T bus the motion of the gear 8 willing shaft 18 and the headstockwith it, the nut 25 being carried along with the bearing 17- and screwfshaft 18, the whole combina-- iion turning together. But as nut 25 is free 0 turnon the shaft, 18 ineither direction whether the machine is running or' not, it is plain that the headstock may be drawn back at any time without obstructior'n by simply turning the nut 25.

The most lmportant part of this invention is embodied in the cloth-board support-.

ing; 17, and bearing 17 'will through the spline and groove 2019, rotate the winding plate P. This plate-possesses several distinguishing characteristics all of which contribute either separately or in combination with some one 'or more of the other features to the success of the machine. The plate P is designed with one plane side on which to place'the. winding board and the other is provided: with an elevated rib or.

corrugation extending throughout the middle of its length It is also made as thin as it can be and retain .the requisite stiffness to do its work. This is for the purpose of leaving the finished bolt of cloth wound sutficiently'close' and tight that when the plate is withdrawn from the bolt it's convolut-ions will contract enough, and only enough to hold the board firmly grasped within its folds so thatitwill notget dis- .placed or loosened in t 'e handling to which it may be sub ected subsequently in pack-- ing, transportation oron the sales counter. Therefore 1ts thickness ordinarlly, should not be more than about an eighth of an inch.

It should be practically integral in char- "nextto or nearest to the board crumpled and wrinkled to such an extent that in many cases several yards of the inside end of a wound piece will be so wrinkled and dainaged as to beunsalable and goes into the waste, or is turned back on the hands of the manufacturer or obber. The rib or corrugation lfi-co ntrib utes much to the success of this plate. The apex of this rib is considerably higher than the surface of the plate sothat when the cloth is wound around the board and plate the length of the folds will be substantially longer than if the rib were absent. In this case the corrugation 16 not only provides a-raised rib but also incidentally fortifies the plate against being bent or distorted lengthwise. It will be seen that in winding the fabric around the plate P and the board B, the successive folds will lie flat or in contact with the entire breadth of the board on one side, while the folds which cross the opposite side stretch from the edge a. of one side of the plate across the high rib 16 to the edge 0, thus bearing against the plate P, only at three points a, b, and 0. Thus the frictional contact of the woundbolt upon the board and plate is much less than if the rib 16 were absent and the cloth pressed directly against the plate. This contributes to the easy withdrawal of the plate from the finished bolt, inasmuch'as, the plate being slightly tapered lengthwise as elsewhere described, its

initial start in renioval is easy, and the pinching friction ofthe bolt being confined on one side to the rib 16- is much less to overcome than it would be'if the cloth con- I tacted with the entire broadside of the plate; By reason of the connection of the headstock with the winding shaft 18 by the universal joint previously described, this supporting plate, when disconnected from the tailstock is free toswing around the end 'of shaft 18 in any direction.

Connection of this supporting plate is made with the v-tails tock by entering its free end in the v groove 14, and if itcarries a-cloth board,

thethickness of that board will fill the in.- terval between the lips 1-1, 14,011 which the end of plate-P rests and the clips, 13, 13, between which it will be pinched, the spurs 15, 15, engaging the material of the board and by their knife-like edges preventing it from slipping edgewise. The head=piece 36, to which the supporting plate P is attached, is'approximately of the same thickness-as the boards with which it is designed to be used, and has a button 37, or other fastening device to hold .the cloth-board in place.

To adapt the apparatus for winding cloths of less width than the maximum width it iscapable of winding, Ihave pro vided a reducing plate t0, seen in plan in Fig. 4, which is slot-ted at each end as at 41, 41, to receive the set-screws 12, 42. The

margin of plate P is fitted with a series ofv s'crewholes h, h, k, Fig.2, to receive the screws'42, the slots being long enough to cover the range of adjustment between the holes h, h, h. vThis plate has similar provisiontothe head-piece 36 for holding the board B, in working position in servlce. This consists of the button 37. Thus, by

'the use of this, reducing piece the distance between'the clamping shoulders of the headstock and the tailstock against which 'the ends of the board abut. when in service 'be adjusted to correspond With-the various lengths of boards to be used.v ThlS supportforce but other designs are cmrpetent to meet the requirement in this respect. If the opposing edges are supported by connecting stays or grids this object would be secured. This feature is important for the following reasons:-In winding cloth from a beam or roll onto a flat'board. as is the common practice. a tension roller of some weight is employed to lie on the web between the roll of cloth and the cloth board for the purpose of keeping the running web taut so as to secure close winding. As the cloth board rotates it produces alternate tightness andslackness of the web unless .something is provided to take up this slack which the tension roller does. but in so doing it intermittently rises and falls on the web with great force..which blows have the effect of producing a very hard. close-wound roll. As the running web of cloth receives two of these blows at each revolution of the clothboard. the effect i sto collapse the board if it is not protected by support throughout all its surface. This hammering of the ten sion roller has force enough to permanently bend heavy, strong bars of iron or steel when they have been used in pairs on which to wind the cloth hence such bars'have been found unsuited for cloth-winding purposes.

By making this'cloth-board support from an integral, or practically integral plate, or one in which the edges. are supported throughout its entire length by a solid web or by intermediate stays, its maximum stiffness ispreserved and the tension roller produces no effect during the winding process tending to impair its shape. A

To facilitate the removal-of the wound bolt of cloth from the winding machine, a

supporting roller 47 is provided which is carried inbearings 46 on standard 44, which is vertically adjustable on the stand 43 by means of the set screw 45 which passes through the head of the stand and bears against the standard 44. One of these stands and rollers-is provided for each machine, and after the roller has been adjusted to .the proper height under the supporting plate the stand is preferably fastened to the floor with th'eroller set at just the right angle withthe machine for the bolt to drop onto it when the head shaft is withdrawn'so that the end of the plate B will drop out of ing: I 1. In a cloth-winding'machine vof the class engagement with theitailstock. When it is desired to remove a Wound bolt of cloth from the supporting plate P, by turning the nut '25 in the proper direction the shaft 18 with the plate P will be drawn away from the tailstock 11' thus leaving the .free end of the plate to drop onto the roller 47 as seen in. Fig. 31 On this it can rest momentarily 'untilthe attendant can seize itand 'draw the bolt off in the manner shown-in Fig. 2, bringing the cloth-board along with it. It has been found that the long flat cor-- rugation'or rib 16 of the supporting plate described, the combinationwith the head and tailstocks-andmeans for supporting and rotating them in unison, of a cloth: board support spanning the interval between said stocks, having a raised longitudinal rib on one sid'e thereof and means for holding a cloth-board in correct operative position thereon, substantially as specified.

2. In a cloth-windingniachine of the class described,' -in combination with the tWo inding shafts and their provisions for i clampinglthe ends of the-clothboard, of a thin stifi' support for the board adapted to give it support throughoutits substantially entire superficial area, having one plain cont-act of ,the cloth with the plate. i

side and a raised longitudinal rib on its 0pposlte side, substantially as specified.

3. The combination wit-h the stocks and theWinding process, substantially as speci- .fie 4. The. combination with the stocks and .an integral supporting plate'with a raised longitudinal rib on one side of means adapted to engage the material of the boa-rd itself toprevent its displacement on the sup- Aporting plate during the winding process,'

substantially as specified.

5. In a cloth-winding machine, a device for carrying a folding board, consisting of a thin, rigid metallic plate substantially plane on one. side to receive the board and support it throughout its extent, and having a longitudinal elevated rib nthe-opposite side preferably located midway the margins of the plate and .of suflicient length 'to extend through the. wound bolt, in combination with means for confiningthe board to the plate, and for-mounting and rotating the same. substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereto subscribed my name in the presenceof, two witness'es.

Witnesses EMILY Soorr,

FRANKLIN S corr.

EDWARD A. MoMILLIN. 

